Ahmed Ben Bella

Ahmed Ben Bella (25 December 1916-11 April 2012) was President of Algeria from 15 September 1963 to 19 June 1965, the first to hold this title; he preceded Houari Boumediene.

Biography
Ahmed Ben Bella was born on 25 December 1916 in Maghnia, French Algeria to a family of Sunni Muslim Berbers. He dropped out of his school in Tlemcen after failing his brevet exam and being disturbed at the French discrimination against the Arabs at the school. In 1936 he volunteered in the French Army, and he joined the Free French during World War II, earning the Military Medal from Charles de Gaulle for his bravery at the 1944 Battle of Monte Cassino. However, after the May 1945 oppression of the people of Setif, he refused to receive an officer rank in protst against the poor treatment of the Berbers by France. While the Algerian War was being waged between France and the FLN, he became a convinced follower of Nasserism, and he became an FLN leader. In 1963 he became the first President of Algeria after the end of the war, and he was a socialist; in 1964 he was given the Hero of the Soviet Union award. However, his autocratic rule alienated his former supporters, and in 1965 his close friend Houari Boumediene and the Algerian Army ousted him in a bloodless coup and placed him under house arrest. He died on 11 April 2012 in Algiers.